Video: Tempers flare at Garvey School District meeting, board member's husband escorted out

ROSEMEAD - While Garvey School District's board meetings have become increasingly rowdy and contentious, Thursday's meeting turned especially ugly when a board member's husband had a public outburst before a crowd of roughly 300 parents, teachers and staff.

Many speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting pleaded for the preservation of district jobs and urged collaboration to fix the district's problems.

Facing a $2.1 million budget deficit next fiscal year, the board was scheduled to vote Thursday whether to lay off 15 classified personnel. Board members voted in March to dismiss 34 teachers.

Last week, 96 percent of teachers supported a "No Confidence" vote in Superintendent Sandra Johnson, citing her lack of collaboration with district stakeholders and poor leadership.

That vote brought an outburst at Thursday's meeting by board member Janet Chin's husband, Keno Deary, who was escorted out of the Garvey Intermediate School auditorium after expressing his outrage at the teacher's union's "No Confidence" vote. He said the district's problems are not exclusively the fault of Johnson.

Deary was supposed to be making a presentation at the public meeting to address accusations of conflict of interest and unethical practices regarding the Janet Chin Foundation's after-school program in the district, an issue that was brought up at the last board meeting.

Deary is executive director of the organization.

However, the issue turned to the teachers' vote in the end of his presentation.

"That 96 percent is all of you!" Deary yelled to board members and administrators on stage. "It's not just one person. Are you kidding me!?"

Deary, who has three children in district schools, said he wanted parents to take a "No Confidence" vote for each teacher in the classroom, adding that it would likely amount to the 96 percent vote the teachers had for Johnson.

"I think some parents feel that there's a deep anger when parents are shut out and it just builds," Chin said following the public scene. "He's a valid person just like any other parent and a highly involved one."

Chin and Deary said a lot of parents don't speak up to offer their opinions to the district out of fear of retaliation.

Meetings in recent months have been moved out of the district office and into larger spaces due to an increasing turnout as tensions continue to rise.

At the heart of the debate are teachers' disapproval of Johnson and concern about layoffs.

One board member said he is thinking about resigning his position after Thursday's meeting.

"I was just so disgusted with what happened," board member Bob Bruesch said of the incident. "It hurts me deeply that our school district has dropped to that level."